Which of the Following Is an Expected Part of Any Book Review?

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What this handout is about

This handout will help you write a volume review, a report or essay that offers a critical perspective on a text. It offers a procedure and suggests some strategies for writing book reviews.

What is a review?

A review is a critical evaluation of a text, effect, object, or miracle. Reviews tin consider books, articles, unabridged genres or fields of literature, compages, art, fashion, restaurants, policies, exhibitions, performances, and many other forms. This handout will focus on book reviews. For a similar assignment, come across our handout on literature reviews.

To a higher place all, a review makes an argument. The most important element of a review is that it is a commentary, non merely a summary. It allows yous to enter into dialogue and discussion with the work'southward creator and with other audiences. You can offer agreement or disagreement and place where you notice the work exemplary or deficient in its cognition, judgments, or arrangement. Y'all should clearly state your opinion of the work in question, and that argument will probably resemble other types of academic writing, with a thesis statement, supporting torso paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Typically, reviews are cursory. In newspapers and bookish journals, they rarely exceed m words, although you may see lengthier assignments and extended commentaries. In either case, reviews need to be succinct. While they vary in tone, subject, and fashion, they share some common features:

First, a review gives the reader a curtailed summary of the content. This includes a relevant description of the topic equally well as its overall perspective, argument, or purpose.
Second, and more chiefly, a review offers a critical cess of the content. This involves your reactions to the work under review: what strikes you as noteworthy, whether or not it was effective or persuasive, and how it enhanced your understanding of the issues at hand.
Finally, in addition to analyzing the piece of work, a review often suggests whether or not the audience would capeesh information technology.

Becoming an expert reviewer: three short examples

Reviewing tin be a daunting task. Someone has asked for your stance almost something that you may experience unqualified to evaluate. Who are you to criticize Toni Morrison's new volume if you've never written a novel yourself, much less won a Nobel Prize? The point is that someone—a professor, a journal editor, peers in a study group—wants to know what y'all think well-nigh a particular piece of work. You may not exist (or feel similar) an expert, just you need to pretend to be 1 for your particular audience. Nobody expects you to be the intellectual equal of the work's creator, but your careful observations can provide you with the raw textile to make reasoned judgments. Tactfully voicing agreement and disagreement, praise and criticism, is a valuable, challenging skill, and like many forms of writing, reviews require yous to provide concrete evidence for your assertions.

Consider the following cursory book review written for a history grade on medieval Europe by a student who is fascinated with beer:

Judith Bennett'due south Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women'due south Work in a Changing World, 1300-1600, investigates how women used to mash and sell the bulk of ale drunk in England. Historically, ale and beer (not milk, vino, or water) were of import elements of the English nutrition. Ale brewing was low-skill and depression status labor that was complimentary to women's domestic responsibilities. In the early fifteenth century, brewers began to make ale with hops, and they called this new beverage "beer." This technique immune brewers to produce their beverages at a lower cost and to sell it more easily, although women by and large stopped brewing once the business became more than assisting.

The student describes the subject of the volume and provides an accurate summary of its contents. But the reader does not learn some primal data expected from a review: the author's argument, the student's appraisement of the book and its argument, and whether or not the student would recommend the volume. As a disquisitional assessment, a book review should focus on opinions, non facts and details. Summary should exist kept to a minimum, and specific details should serve to illustrate arguments.

Now consider a review of the aforementioned volume written by a slightly more opinionated student:

Judith Bennett's Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women'south Work in a Changing Globe, 1300-1600 was a colossal disappointment. I wanted to know well-nigh the rituals surrounding drinking in medieval England: the songs, the games, the parties. Bennett provided none of that information. I liked how the volume showed ale and beer brewing as an economic activity, but the reader gets lost in the details of prices and wages. I was more interested in the private lives of the women brewsters. The book was divided into eight long chapters, and I can't imagine why anyone would ever want to read it.

There's no shortage of judgments in this review! Only the student does not display a working noesis of the book'due south argument. The reader has a sense of what the student expected of the book, merely no sense of what the writer herself set out to evidence. Although the student gives several reasons for the negative review, those examples do not clearly relate to each other as office of an overall evaluation—in other words, in support of a specific thesis. This review is indeed an assessment, merely non a critical one.

Here is one final review of the same book:

One of feminism's paradoxes—one that challenges many of its optimistic histories—is how patriarchy remains persistent over time. While Judith Bennett'southward Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women's Piece of work in a Irresolute World, 1300-1600 recognizes medieval women as historical actors through their ale brewing, it also shows that female agency had its limits with the appearance of beer. I had assumed that those limits were religious and political, but Bennett shows how a "patriarchal equilibrium" shut women out of economical life as well. Her analysis of women's wages in ale and beer production proves that a modify in women'due south work does non equate to a change in working women'due south status. Contemporary feminists and historians alike should read Bennett'due south book and recall twice when they scissure open their next brewsky.

This student'south review avoids the problems of the previous two examples. Information technology combines balanced opinion and physical instance, a critical cess based on an explicitly stated rationale, and a recommendation to a potential audience. The reader gets a sense of what the volume's author intended to demonstrate. Moreover, the student refers to an argument about feminist history in general that places the book in a specific genre and that reaches out to a general audition. The example of analyzing wages illustrates an statement, the analysis engages meaning intellectual debates, and the reasons for the overall positive review are plainly visible. The review offers criteria, opinions, and support with which the reader can concord or disagree.

Developing an assessment: before you write

In that location is no definitive method to writing a review, although some critical thinking about the work at paw is necessary before yous actually brainstorm writing. Thus, writing a review is a two-step process: developing an argument nigh the work under consideration, and making that argument every bit you write an organized and well-supported draft. Come across our handout on argument.

What follows is a serial of questions to focus your thinking as y'all dig into the work at mitt. While the questions specifically consider volume reviews, you tin hands transpose them to an analysis of performances, exhibitions, and other review subjects. Don't feel obligated to address each of the questions; some volition be more relevant than others to the book in question.

What is the thesis—or primary argument—of the book? If the author wanted you to get i thought from the book, what would it be? How does it compare or contrast to the world y'all know? What has the book accomplished?
What exactly is the subject or topic of the volume? Does the author cover the subject adequately? Does the writer encompass all aspects of the subject in a balanced fashion? What is the approach to the field of study (topical, belittling, chronological, descriptive)?
How does the author support her argument? What evidence does she employ to prove her betoken? Exercise yous detect that evidence convincing? Why or why not? Does whatever of the author's information (or conclusions) conflict with other books you've read, courses you lot've taken or just previous assumptions you lot had of the subject field?
How does the author structure her argument? What are the parts that make upward the whole? Does the argument brand sense? Does it persuade y'all? Why or why not?
How has this volume helped you lot empathize the subject area? Would you recommend the book to your reader?

Beyond the internal workings of the book, yous may as well consider some information well-nigh the author and the circumstances of the text'due south product:

Who is the author? Nationality, political persuasion, training, intellectual interests, personal history, and historical context may provide crucial details about how a work takes shape. Does it affair, for example, that the biographer was the subject's all-time friend? What difference would it brand if the author participated in the events she writes about?
What is the book's genre? Out of what field does it emerge? Does information technology adapt to or depart from the conventions of its genre? These questions can provide a historical or literary standard on which to base your evaluations. If you are reviewing the first book ever written on the subject field, information technology will be of import for your readers to know. Keep in mind, though, that naming "firsts"—aslope naming "bests" and "onlys"—can exist a risky business organization unless you're absolutely sure.

Writing the review

In one case you lot accept made your observations and assessments of the work under review, advisedly survey your notes and attempt to unify your impressions into a argument that will describe the purpose or thesis of your review. Bank check out our handout on thesis statements. Then, outline the arguments that support your thesis.

Your arguments should develop the thesis in a logical manner. That logic, unlike more standard academic writing, may initially emphasize the author's argument while you develop your own in the course of the review. The relative accent depends on the nature of the review: if readers may be more than interested in the piece of work itself, you may want to make the piece of work and the author more prominent; if yous want the review to be nigh your perspective and opinions, then you lot may construction the review to privilege your observations over (just never divide from) those of the work under review. What follows is just one of many ways to organize a review.

Introduction

Since most reviews are brief, many writers begin with a tricky quip or chestnut that succinctly delivers their argument. Merely yous can introduce your review differently depending on the argument and audience. The Writing Centre'south handout on introductions can help you find an arroyo that works. In full general, you should include:

The proper noun of the author and the book championship and the main theme.
Relevant details about who the author is and where he/she stands in the genre or field of inquiry. You could also link the title to the subject field to show how the title explains the subject matter.
The context of the volume and/or your review. Placing your review in a framework that makes sense to your audience alerts readers to your "take" on the volume. Perhaps you want to situate a volume about the Cuban revolution in the context of Cold State of war rivalries between the United States and the Soviet Union. Another reviewer might want to consider the volume in the framework of Latin American social movements. Your option of context informs your argument.
The thesis of the book. If you are reviewing fiction, this may be difficult since novels, plays, and short stories rarely take explicit arguments. Simply identifying the volume'southward particular novelty, bending, or originality allows you lot to show what specific contribution the piece is trying to make.
Your thesis near the book.

Summary of content

This should be brief, as analysis takes priority. In the form of making your cess, yous'll hopefully be bankroll up your assertions with concrete evidence from the book, so some summary volition be dispersed throughout other parts of the review.

The necessary amount of summary as well depends on your audience. Graduate students, beware! If you are writing book reviews for colleagues—to prepare for comprehensive exams, for instance—you may want to devote more attending to summarizing the book'south contents. If, on the other hand, your audience has already read the volume—such as a class consignment on the same work—you may take more than liberty to explore more subtle points and to emphasize your ain argument. See our handout on summary for more tips.

Analysis and evaluation of the book

Your assay and evaluation should be organized into paragraphs that deal with single aspects of your argument. This arrangement tin be challenging when your purpose is to consider the volume as a whole, but it tin can aid you differentiate elements of your criticism and pair assertions with evidence more than clearly. You do not necessarily demand to piece of work chronologically through the book equally you discuss it. Given the argument you want to make, you can organize your paragraphs more usefully by themes, methods, or other elements of the book. If you find information technology useful to include comparisons to other books, continue them brief so that the book under review remains in the spotlight. Avoid excessive quotation and requite a specific page reference in parentheses when you lot do quote. Call back that you tin can country many of the author's points in your own words.

Conclusion

Sum up or restate your thesis or make the last judgment regarding the book. You should not introduce new evidence for your argument in the conclusion. You can, however, introduce new ideas that go beyond the book if they extend the logic of your own thesis. This paragraph needs to residue the book'south strengths and weaknesses in order to unify your evaluation. Did the trunk of your review have three negative paragraphs and one favorable one? What practice they all add upward to? The Writing Centre'due south handout on conclusions tin aid you make a last cess.

In review

Finally, a few general considerations:

Review the book in forepart of you, not the volume you wish the author had written. You tin can and should point out shortcomings or failures, simply don't criticize the book for not existence something it was never intended to exist.
With any luck, the author of the volume worked hard to find the right words to limited her ideas. Y'all should try to exercise the same. Precise linguistic communication allows you to control the tone of your review.
Never hesitate to challenge an supposition, approach, or statement. Be sure, however, to cite specific examples to back up your assertions carefully.
Try to present a balanced argument about the value of the book for its audience. You lot're entitled—and sometimes obligated—to vox stiff agreement or disagreement. Simply keep in mind that a bad book takes as long to write as a good one, and every writer deserves fair treatment. Harsh judgments are difficult to evidence and can give readers the sense that y'all were unfair in your assessment.
A great place to learn about book reviews is to expect at examples. The New York Times Dominicus Book Review and The New York Review of Books can show you lot how professional writers review books.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive listing of resource on the handout's topic, and nosotros encourage y'all to practise your ain inquiry to find boosted publications. Please do non utilize this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may non match the commendation manner you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please come across the UNC Libraries citation tutorial. We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Drewry, John. 1974. Writing Book Reviews. Boston: Greenwood Press.

Hoge, James. 1987. Literary Reviewing. Charlottesville: University Virginia of Press.

Sova, Dawn, and Harry Teitelbaum. 2002. How to Write Book Reports, 4th ed. Lawrenceville, NY: Thomson/Arco.

Walford, A.J. 1986. Reviews and Reviewing: A Guide. Phoenix: Oryx Press.

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